Two out of Ten Americans Are Wrestling Fans, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin Picked as Fan Favorite

PRINCETON, NJ -- Every Monday night, the television networks
shudder as millions of their viewers click away from their
prime-time programming -- to watch wrestling. Cable's Monday night
wrestling shows get the credit -- or the blame -- for drops in
ratings for this year's NCAA men's college basketball championship
and that fixture of television sports: "Monday Night Football." The
World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling also
make millions of dollars every year from pay-per-view events, such
as this past weekend's WWF "SummerSlam," which featured former
wrestler-turned-governor Jesse Ventura. Wrestling is so big, in
fact, that the WWF hopes to raise more than $172 million in a
public stock offering later this year.

Who's Watching Wrestling?
Still, despite the hoopla, wrestling remains a preoccupation with
only a minority of the American public. A new Gallup poll conducted
August 16-18 shows that only 18% of Americans consider themselves
to be fans of professional wrestling. This compares to Gallup's
estimates that about 59% of Americans are professional baseball
fans, and that 41% are professional basketball fans.

Not surprisingly, wrestling fans tend to be young males with
high school educations who earn less than $30,000 annually -- and
their political ideology tends to lean Democratic. Very few college
graduates claim to be professional wrestling fans, and the fan
percentage among those over age 30 is also quite low. One
interesting note: despite the predominance of white wrestlers on
wrestling shows, the percentage of black fans is greater than the
percentage of white fans by a two-to-one margin (33% of blacks
count themselves as professional wrestling fans, compared to 16% of
whites). There are few regional differences, except that the East
has fewer wrestling fans than other regions of the country do.

Is Professional Wrestling a Sport?
That question has plagued professional wrestling for years, and
even wrestling promoters now label their events "athletic
entertainment" as an acknowledgement that the results of wrestling
matches are usually predetermined. The poll results show most
people understand the difference: 81% of Americans say professional
wrestling is not a sport, compared to 17% who say it is. However,
the difference drops among those who call themselves wrestling
fans, as 56% say it is not a sport -- much lower than among the
general population -- compared to 44% who claim it is.

There is little illusion among Americans, however, that
wrestling matches are actually unbiased competitions. More than
eight out of ten Americans believe the outcomes of most wrestling
matches are fixed. Interestingly, a 1951 Gallup poll which asked
the same question found that only 17% believed most matches were
fixed; 42% of Americans believed only a few matches were fixed,
while 24% believed none of them were.

Who Is the Fan Favorite?
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin takes top honors in the ring -- and in
the Gallup poll. Twenty-four percent of Americans picked Austin as
their favorite wrestler, twice as many as the nearest challenger,
Hulk Hogan (12%). Austin is also the only wrestler to show more
support among women than among men, with 32% of women picking him
as their favorite wrestler compared to 19% of men. Other fan
favorites after Austin and Hogan include Bill Goldberg (10%), Sting
(7%), and "The Rock" (6%).

Americans Split on Ventura Participation in
"SummerSlam"
The new Gallup poll found that 47% of Americans consider it
appropriate for Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura to have taken part
in the "SummerSlam" event this past weekend, while 43% believe his
participation was inappropriate. Among wrestling fans, however, 73%
say it is appropriate for him to be a guest "referee."

Survey Methods
The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly
selected national sample of 1,028 adults, 18 years and older,
conducted August 16-18, 1999. For results based on this sample, one
can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error
attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus
3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question
wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can
introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion
polls.

Now thinking about World Championship Wrestling, the World
Wrestling Federation and other professional wrestling that you may
see on TV, are you a fan of professional wrestling, or not?

Yes, a fan

12%

SOMEWHAT OF A FAN (vol.)

6

No, not a fan

82

No opinion

*

100%

Who is your favorite pro wrestler?

BASED ON -- 151 -- PRO-WRESTLING FANS; ± 7 PCT
PTS

Steve Austin

24%

Hulk Hogan

12

Bill Goldberg

10

Sting

7

The Rock

6

Undertaker

2

Sable

2

Jesse Ventura

2

Ric Flair

2

Kevin Nash

1

Other

6

None/No favorite

15

No opinion

11

100%

Do you consider pro wrestling to be a sport, or not?

Yes, a sport

17%

No, not a sport

81

No opinion

2

100%

As you may know, Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, a former
professional wrestler, will be the referee in a pro wrestling event
this summer on pay-per-view cable. Do you think it is appropriate
or inappropriate for Ventura to participate in that event?

Appropriate

47%

Inappropriate

43

No opinion

10

100%

Would you say that most, a few, or not any professional
wrestling matches are fixed?

Slightly more Americans agree (52%) than disagree (45%) that the federal government is responsible for making sure all Americans have healthcare coverage. This balance of views is similar to last year.

Americans' daily self-reports of spending averaged $98 in November, up from $93 in October. The latest figure is the highest average recorded for the month of November since Gallup began tracking consumer spending in 2008.